Chris Wade: PFL opponent Bubba Jenkins consistent, but not a complete martial artist

Chris Wade isn’t worried about what Bubba Jenkins brings to the table.

Jenkins (16-4), an NCAA Division-I wrestling champion, kicked off his PFL campaign with a bang by upsetting back-to-back featherweight tournament winner Lance Palmer. He followed that up with a unanimous decision win over Bobby Moffett, which set him up in a semifinals showdown with Wade at 2021 PFL Playoffs 3 on Aug. 27.

Although the former BRAVE CF featherweight champion has emerged as one of the frontrunners to win the title, Wade (19-6) thinks he’s been rather one-dimensional so far.

“Bubba’s been pretty consistent, but his consistency has been – I’m not seeing a complete martial artist,” Wade told MMA Junkie Radio. “Inside that consistency, I’m seeing a wrestler who has a plan to hold on to somebody for two rounds and then give up the third round. With Lance – Lance won (a PFL title) twice – Lance has things in his life going on that that fight to me wasn’t a super hungry Lance Palmer.

“So I don’t hold a ton of weight to that fight with him and Bubba. It was tough for me to get going after a year off, too, and fighting (Anthony) Dizy (at 2021 PFL 1), so I can’t really put too much on Lance for that. I think that was kind of a weird warmup fight to get everything going, and I’m not scared at all by that outcome that went down and how he won that fight.”

Wade has been a pleasant surprise himself. After failing to make the final in the 2019 PFL lightweight playoffs, Wade has dropped down a weight class and finds himself right back in the semifinals after scoring his first-career knockout against Arman Ospanov.